People - particularly party boat mates - who fillet fish alive

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MsMassPoly;4542622; said:
I am not sure bashing a fish in the head is humane?

More humane then letting it bleed out or suffocate, it's instant death if the basher does it right.

I don't really even fish because i feel bad foul hooking things like turtles in lakes, or rays in the oceans, or just when i hook a fish in the guts. And when i do fish, i throw everything back. but if i DID keep fish, i would kill them right away so they wouldn't have to suffocate.
 
Don't ever advocate somebody putting their fingers inside a fish's mouth. People will do stupid things. I was sharkin back in august, and another couple was down on the beach fishin, the guy brought in a 5' bull shark and put his hand in it's mouth to unhook it. Foolish, foolish boy.
I have worked on a charter boat, tuna fishing mostly. We had to gaff the fish, which isn't really that great IMHO, but I discovered that if I gaffed em in the head, hard, they would be dead before I got em in the boat. I also had an aluminum baseball bat for the head knockin, it looks really bad but puts em out quick.
 
Sigh, I was trying to describe how i went through the steps to insure a fast coup de grace to the fish, making an effort to end the suffering and shock for them as soon as they came on board, or even better, as i was bringing them in.
 
Personaly if i'm keeping my catches i kill them with a club to the head or a knife to the brain, i wan't to end it as quick as possible get the fish cleaned and on ice. i never fillet in the field the meat will last a lot longer if left whole just remove all organs. i like to kill what i eat know where it came from but don't wish to see it suffer make the kill as quick and as clean as possible.
 
for 15 years i have always clubbed the fish i am going to be keeping to eat. it doesnt make sence to keep a fish on a stringer or flopping in the bottom of the boat. put it out of its misery and then keep it on the stringer or in a bucket of water, i dont see a point of letting something suffer
 
when fishing with my family we killed the fish as fast as possible if we were keeping it to eat..a quick down slice of a flay knife just past the back of the head to sever the spine and then clean...put on ice immediately..makes for the best tasting fish IMO
 
They do have a point when do the maits have time to fillet the fish? Ive been on a few party boats and i have seen the mates always running around helping googans with tangles, baiting lines, or just refilling bait buckets. Also just finished reading the whole thread, they seem to have been over sensitive. You know how it is catch and kill fishermen we get very protective of our right to keep fish. But they seem to respect you in the end.
 
I agree that a fish should be put out before being cut open. But i'm also not surprised by the responses in that thread...real lame.
 
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